While Dave Murphy, founder and executive director of Food Democracy Now!, said Friday that it was "great that Whole Foods has finally agreed to stop selling unlabeled genetically engineered foods in their stores," Murphy took the grocer to task for what he said was the grocer dragging its feet.

"While this is a step in the right direction, Whole Foods’ customers shouldn’t have to wait another half decade to get common sense labeling of genetically engineered ingredients in their products that they sell unlabeled every day," wrote Murphy. "Whole Foods needs to put their money where their mouth is. It's time for companies to stop promoting their efforts through press releases and get in the game politically."

ORIGINAL POST: March 8, 2013 12:00 p.m.

Foodies took note of a big announcement today from the corporate office of Whole Foods, as the grocer—which swung open the doors of its new Boise location in November—decided to commit "to full GMO transparency by giving supplier partners five years to source non-GMO ingredients to clearly label products with ingredients containing GMOs."

Whole Foods CEO Walter Robb, who sat down with Boise Weekly in November, wrote this morning that Whole Foods would become "the first national grocery chain to set a deadline for full GMO (genetically modified organisms) transparency.

"By 2018, we will require our supplier partners to label products containing GMO ingredients," wrote Robb. "And we will work in collaboration with them as they transition to sourcing non-GMO ingredients or to clearly labeling products with ingredients containing GMOs."

Robb said the transition was a "complicated issue" and wanted to give his suppliers enough time to make the change, but added that his company was "as excited about this announcement as we are dedicated to supporting transparency."